Bike seat review

trex

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May 15, 2011
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he may try running the Bosch motor at 48V.
 

cwah

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I was supposed to receive my motor yesterday, but ups never shown and now says I'll receive on tuesday 1900.....

So yeah, I wanted to install it quickly so hence on the bosch. And yes I'm overvolting it to 48V :)
 

trex

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are you going to run two motors on it? that would be crazy!
 

cwah

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Jun 3, 2011
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no, but I'm going to run the bosch on 16s (65V fully charged :p)

Everything is inside the box, for a total of 80 cells (648wh) + controller:



Tracking power:


I don't have a power plug yet.. so there is a hole :rolleyes:


Now the only issue is to find a way to fix the seat properly to the bike, and make sure the motor doesn't burn
 
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patpatbut

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Apr 25, 2012
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Hi Cwah,

Slightly off topic, how do you solder the cells together?

Thanks
Pat
 

cwah

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I did not solder them. I used a cheap chinese spot welder. I had to buy 2 to have one working. Be careful with aliexpress they side with seller when you'll have your spot welder which may fail.

I'd like to get a better one, the welding isn't that nice. But I can't afford 1000gbp to get a spot welder
 

103Alex1

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Sep 29, 2012
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I did not solder them. I used a cheap chinese spot welder. I had to buy 2 to have one working. Be careful with aliexpress they side with seller when you'll have your spot welder which may fail.

I'd like to get a better one, the welding isn't that nice. But I can't afford 1000gbp to get a spot welder
How much did you get it for ?
 

cwah

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about 100gbp per spot welder and 40gbp customs. 2 times :(
 

cwah

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Ok, I managed to carry 2 different passenger on my bike. Here is what it looks like now:



At first, when they see the seat, they are not really convinced about it, but once they get on the seat they get quite happy about it.

I managed to bring a girl to a restaurant (6km distance) and bring her back home with the bike :cool:
But obviously, a bicycle is not something to use to pick up girl because they are at first disappointed!

Now, in term of issue, the handling is not very good. The seat probably needs to be lower, and handling is particularly difficult during rush hours when I need to slalom between cars. Starting is also a bit tricky as the bike tends to wheelie.
It obviously needs some practice in order to handle the bikeseat properly!

Overall conclusion is to carry a passenger, a long wheelbase frame is the best option, and smaller wheels will probably be much more appreciated.
 

Scimitar

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Jul 31, 2010
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It'd be nice if you could reduce your picture file sizes, as even on BB they take an annoyingly long time to download.
Neither of those need be any larger than 250KB, not 8MB.
 

Kenny

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Jun 13, 2007
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Not exactly one to impress the ladies Cwah, but glad to see you got it fitted and working. :)

I used to take 2 of my kids home from school on my Xtracycle cargo bike and found the handling quite tricky too.
A 20-30kg load of groceries is fine on my bike but even a smallish passenger of around 60kg makes the bike quite a handful.
It's ok for a short hop into town (1 mile) but I wouldn't want to do much more, although it would be a lot easier if my bike was fitted with a motor like yours.
 

cwah

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Jun 3, 2011
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how come it works so well on moped to carry a passenger, and with a bike, even with a long tail like the xtracycle handling becomes so difficult???

So I can't carry people with me on my bike? :(
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Partly depends on the bike cwah, bike frames can flex considerably, and that's especially true of the Xtracycle combination which can be very bendy. If a high mounted passenger doesn't synchronise their balance position and movements precisely with the rider's, the handing can be all over the place.

Mopeds are different, usually lower rider/passenger CoG, dual seat giving more closely coupled body masses, less bendy, and the moped a higher proportion of the total weight so controlling movement better than the very low bike weight.
.
 
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cwah

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Any way I can carry someone properly on a bicycle, or shall I resign to a moped or a small car? :(
 

patpatbut

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Apr 25, 2012
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Any way I can carry someone properly on a bicycle, or shall I resign to a moped or a small car? :(
Hi Cwah,

Maybe you need really fat tyres to improve the stability. Not sure how big you bike can handle...

Pat
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Any way I can carry someone properly on a bicycle, or shall I resign to a moped or a small car? :(
You've shown you can and well done for doing that. Where safety is concerned much depends on how you ride. The danger point with passengers is cornering, if you take a corner fast when banked and an inexperienced passenger tries to stay upright instead of leaning with you, a low-side accident is very likely. So taking corners or swerving at moderate speeds and upright when with a passenger will be safest.

You may have an issue with the police one day, the term "constructed or adapted" being open to their interpretation. If they forbid you to use your adapted bike with an adult passenger, it might prove complex and expensive, perhaps even impossible, to get them overruled.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
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That is subject to registration with number plates etc, there is a special quadricycle motor vehicle class in the UK needing a full car driving licence.

Only bicycles and tricycles can have assist power under the UK EAPC regulations, and the latter is limited to 60 kilos anyway, ruling out most four wheelers.

In your native France a light quadricycle can be driven by anyone over the age of 14 years with a special driving licence for that purpose, but it's still regarded as a form of motor vehicle.
.
 
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